


i'll paint you my favorite memory of us

by sunflower_writes



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Christopher Diaz is Eddie's Safe Haven, Christopher Diaz is a National Treasure, Eddie Diaz Is A Good Father, Fluff, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Mentions of Christopher, Soft Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Soft Evan "Buck" Buckley, artist!eddie, no beta we die like men, slight mutual pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-22
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:08:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26601937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflower_writes/pseuds/sunflower_writes
Summary: It was just a painting, but it gave Buck just a little bit of hope that Eddie and him could be something more—and maybe he was crazy to get that idea from a painting, but he wanted to believe it was true.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan “Buck” Buckley & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 192





	i'll paint you my favorite memory of us

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gracieli](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gracieli/gifts), [elisela](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elisela/gifts).



Eddie likes drawing. 

He doodled in his notebooks all through high school, creating little gardens at the corner of each page when he took notes—even took an art class to get better and found that he was better at sketching than painting. 

He took a realism class when he went to college, fell in love with that but never went back because he found out Shannon was pregnant. He signed up for the army shortly after that. 

Then Christopher was born and Eddie had less than a week left before he had to be deployed to Afghanistan. 

So, naturally, he spent most of his nights cooped up in Christopher’s room. He was trying to ease the nerves he felt about leaving, all the while memorizing his features as he sketched his little figure out onto the sketchpad in his lap—the moonlight being his only source of lighting. 

Drawing Chris calms his nerves up until the day he leaves, a bittersweet feeling as he pressed a kiss to the top of his tiny head and stepped on the bus. 

While Eddie was deployed, he spent his free time sketching Christopher from memory. The image of Chris sleeping in his crib while the moonlight highlighted his features was a recurring sketch in Eddie’s little journal. It was something that brought him peace and maybe he imagined himself watching Chris sleep, just like he used to do. 

Then he was discharged. 

Most of his nights consisted of nightmares, of tossing and turning in bed and waking up in cold sweat. His whole body shaking and the only thing that seemed to calm him down was drawing Christopher—focusing on drawing him was the only thing that made his hands stop shaking. 

After that, he did it anytime he was pulled from his slumber by a nightmare. 

It went on for years and by the time they moved out to LA, Eddie had a couple of sketch pads full of drawings. All of Christopher, of course, ranging from him sleeping to him playing out in the garden and picking berries. 

He never showed anyone his drawings. Aside from Chris, the drawings were for his eyes only. It was an intimate part of Eddie’s love for Christopher and he wasn’t ready to share that with anyone. 

That is until Buck saw them. 

It was an accident. He was helping Christopher pick up his school books from the table so they could get ready for dinner and he found Eddie’s sketch pad lying amongst them—only after it slipped from his hold and landed open on the floor. 

It was a sketch of Christopher, like most of them in there, but the only difference was Buck was in this one. It was a drawing of them sitting on the couch cuddling. Buck’s arm was wrapped around Christopher’s frame, holding him close to his side. They were looking at each other, Chris seemed to be laughing at something Buck said and Buck was grinning down at him. It made Buck’s heart swell and tears gather in his eyes. 

It wasn’t until Eddie came into the kitchen that he noticed Buck holding his sketchbook with tears rolling down his cheeks as he looked at the drawing. 

After that, Eddie allowed Buck to look through his sketchbooks—all but the drawings he did of Christopher as a baby. Those were his peace and comfort during the war and he wanted to keep them for himself.

In some way, it was Eddie opening up to Buck. He was letting him into something that was intimate to him. It was his safe haven during the war, during all the nightmares, and he guarded it with his whole heart. Showing these drawings to Buck meant Eddie was ready to let someone in again. 

Buck became his biggest fan, runner up to Christopher. Always complimenting the sketches Eddie showed him, encouraging him when he felt weary about trying new methods. He even gifted him his first set of professional colored pencils on his birthday so he could start shading in color. 

Let’s just say there were tears. 

Eddie cried over gifted pencils, yes, but it wasn’t because of the gesture. It was because of what Buck said when he handed him the gift bag and watched him open it. 

“I spent hours looking for the best sketching pencils and these were the ones I saw everywhere, highly recommended by artists. I hope you like them.” 

He didn’t have to do any research—didn’t even have to give him a gift—but he did and that made Eddie love him just a little bit more. It was so much like Buck to always go out of his way to make others happy and feel validated without ever expecting anything in return. 

Which is why Eddie knew exactly what to give him for his birthday—something that subtly screamed ‘I love you’ without actually having to say the words. He knows how much Buck loves Christopher and how much Chris loves Buck, it was the perfect gift for him. A way for him to know he was family. 

It was a quick sketch, very rough, one he left alone until he decided to give it to Buck for his birthday. Eddie worked on it for weeks, practicing with paints and the colored pencils. He wanted to give the drawing to Buck because he took him out of his comfort level, just like painting in color did. 

When Buck’s birthday came around, Eddie was the last to give his gift. He handed Buck the gift bag with the painting in it, watching with a giant grin on his face as he opened it. 

Buck took the frame in his hands, a small smile on his face as he stared at it. 

It was a painting of all of them on the couch. Christopher sleeping on Eddie’s chest and Eddie leaning against Buck’s chest as he wrapped his arms around them. They all look so peaceful and content and it was the first time Buck felt like he belonged somewhere. He remembers it like it was yesterday, driving over to Eddie’s to help keep him company while he tended to a sick Chris. Them curling up on the couch because Chris wanted to cuddle with them. It made Buck realize that this was something he wanted to do everyday and he didn’t want to let go. 

It was the night they both realized they were in love with each other.

Buck turned to Eddie, tears in his eyes as he looked at him. “Are you sure you want to give it to me?” His voice was soft, almost as if he was scared of Eddie’s response being one he didn’t want. 

It was just a painting, but it gave Buck just a little bit of hope that Eddie and him could be something more—and maybe he was crazy to get that idea from a painting, but he wanted to believe it was true. 

“Yes, I’m sure Buck. It’s my gift to you..a way of saying thank you for everything you do for us. It’s like a family portrait—because that’s what you are to us, Buck. Family.” Eddie smiled gently, resting his hand on his shoulder, thumb resting against his pulse point. 

Buck didn’t react to the words, but he let them sink in and the look in Eddie’s eyes was enough to let him know that Eddie cared for him just a little bit more than friends. “Thank you, Eds. It’s beautiful...I’m going to hang it when I get home tonight.”

And Buck did hang it up because the next night, when Eddie went over to tell Buck he loved him, Eddie’s painting was mounted on his bedroom wall for Buck’s eyes only.

**Author's Note:**

> soft eddie diaz hours happened on tumblr and this is the result of that. 
> 
> find me on tumblr @softboiidiaz


End file.
